Scottish Executive

Adoption

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to provide people who were adopted with access to the names of their grandparents.

Euan Robson: A person who has been adopted in Scotland upon reaching the age of 16 years has an automatic right of access to her or his original birth details, and the court process papers from the adoption case and any freeing. Once an adopted person has access to her or his original birth details they may be able to trace the names of their grandparents through the records held by the Registrar General for Scotland or his equivalent.

  The Registrar General for Scotland must also maintain an index of the entries in the Adopted Children Register, and keep such other information to enable a connection to be made between an entry in the Adopted Children Register and the adopted person's original birth details.

  The Registrar General for Scotland may only provide such information to the adopted person themselves, specified counsellors acting on their behalf, or if ordered to do so by Order of the Court. In a case where the adopted person is deceased, it would be open to the family to make an approach to the sheriff of the court that granted the adoption requesting an order for the relevant information to be released to them.

  Adopted children under the age of 16 have no automatic right of access to information that would allow them to trace their original birth details, but adoption agencies are able to provide information in appropriate circumstances, while recognising the need to involve the adoptive parents.

  Phase II of the Adoption Policy Review, which commenced on 18 March, will consider the legal framework for adoption and fostering. As part of that consideration, it will review the issue of tracing and access to adoption records. It is expected to make recommendations to ministers late in 2004.

Civil Servants

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are used to ensure equal opportunities in relation to secondments to its departments.

Mr Andy Kerr: Secondments to the Executive are governed by the principles of the Civil Service Commissioners' Recruitment Code . Appointments are based on merit regardless of gender, marital status, race, age, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, religion or work pattern.

Fisheries

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will visit the Ardtoe Marine Farming Unit and meet the staff to hear their views about the future of the unit.

Ross Finnie: No. The Sea Fish Industry Authority is currently negotiating possible options for the unit and such a visit would not be appropriate at this time.

Fisheries

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will meet the Chief Executive of the Seafish Industry Authority to discuss the level of continuing financial commitment to the Ardtoe Marine Farming Unit; for what period any such commitment will be, and whether it will make representations to the authority that it make a substantial financial commitment.

Ross Finnie: The Executive meets with the Chief Executive of the Seafish Industry Authority on a regular basis. The Seafish Board is currently engaged in negotiations with potential new managers for the Ardtoe Unit and they are also considering their forward strategy for aquaculture. Operational matters including the best use of levy funds raised from the wider fishing industry are for the Seafish Board to decide. It would not be appropriate for the Executive to intervene.

Housing

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action is planned in respect of common factoring schemes, as referred to in A Partnership for a Better Scotland .

Cathy Jamieson: A consultation paper enclosing a draft Tenements (Scotland) Bill was published on 20 March and the consultation period concluded on 13 June. That paper invited views on the appointment of factors. The Executive will be considering the responses to the consultation paper and bringing forward proposals.

Justice

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Lord Advocate will consider the prosecution of Scottish Power plc following the meeting between the Deputy Crown Agent and Mr Alex Davidson on 30 May 2003 to discuss his complaint against the company.

Mrs Elish Angiolini: The meeting with the Deputy Crown Agent was postponed to 13 June 2003 at the request of Mr Davidson's solicitor. I will write to the member once a decision has been taken as to what action, if any, is to be taken as a result of the information provided at the meeting and arrange for a copy to be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

Justice

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to reform the law on corporate killing.

Cathy Jamieson: We will study the judgement of the Appeal Court on the Transco case, once it is available, before deciding whether legislation is required.

National Lottery Funding

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much national lottery funding has been allocated in total and per head of population in each Glasgow constituency since 1996.

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much national lottery funding has been allocated in total and per head of population in each Glasgow City Council ward since 1996.

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much national lottery funding has been allocated in total and per head of population to non-national organisations in each Glasgow constituency since 1996.

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much national lottery funding has been allocated in total and per head of population to non-national organisations in each Glasgow City Council ward since 1996.

Mr Frank McAveety: The distribution of national lottery funds is a matter for the Lottery Distribution Bodies: Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Screen,  sportscotland, New Opportunities Fund, Community Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund and Millennium Commission. The information requested is not held centrally.

  The Department for Culture, Media and Sport maintains a database of national lottery awards on their website which sets out the total awarded to each constituency area and each local authority area for each lottery good cause.

Nuclear Power

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty's Government about the siting in Scotland of offices of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive has regular discussions with the UK Government on a number of issues, including the establishment of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Nuclear Waste

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a policy on the siting of a nuclear waste disposal facility in the Highlands and Islands; whether it is appropriate to dispose of nuclear waste in that area; what its role would be in any plans to dispose of nuclear waste there, and whether any such plans would be open to public consultation.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive is committed to the current UK-wide process to establish the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM). CoRWM will consider all options for Intermediate and High Level Waste. No decisions have been taken about what to do with the waste, and so questions about siting at this stage are hypothetical.

  Openness and transparency is essential in order to inspire public confidence on radioactive waste management issues. Therefore, following CoRWM's recommendations to ministers, there will be a public debate on how to implement the preferred option(s).

  The management of radioactive waste is a devolved matter, as are the land-use planning and environmental control regimes. Decisions about policy on radioactive waste storage and disposal in Scotland are, therefore, for the Scottish ministers and Parliament.

Prison Service

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-33518 by Mr Jim Wallace on 7 February 2003, whether there has been any further negotiation regarding the disposal of the former remand centre at Longriggend, North Lanarkshire, and what the future use of the centre will be.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  Negotiations with the potential purchaser are still on-going. While the SPS has no knowledge of what the future use of the site will be, we would expect that any proposed development would be subject to an application to the local planning authority.

Rates

Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the implementation of rates relief for small rural businesses.

Mr Andy Kerr: We introduced a rate relief scheme for small businesses with effect from 1 April 2003. All businesses, including rural businesses, with a rateable value of £10,000 or less are eligible for a discount of between 5% and 50% on the rate poundage. In addition, we introduced a rate relief scheme for qualifying new farm diversification enterprises and an extension to the agricultural exemption from rates to certain buildings used in connection with agricultural operations. In areas designated as rural by the Scottish ministers, we have extended the scope of the existing rural (village shop) rate relief scheme to qualifying hotels/public houses, petrol filling stations and small food shops and we have exempted cashline machines from paying rates.

Scottish Executive Staff

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many posts in its departments are currently held by employees of other public bodies or other organisations, broken down by department and employer.

Mr Andy Kerr: The number of Scottish Executive posts within its departments which are currently held by employees of other public bodies or other organisations is 84. The following tables show how these posts are broken down into departments and employers:

  The total number of inward secondees is 84

  Number of Secondments by Host Department

  


Education Department 
  

29 
  



Health Department 
  

20 
  



Environment and Rural Affairs Department 
  

9 
  



Communities Scotland 
  

7 
  



Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department 
  

5 
  



Justice Department 
  

5 
  



Finance and Central Services Department 
  

5 
  



Development Department 
  

3 
  



National Archives of Scotland 
  

1 
  



Total 
  

84 
  



  Numbers by Donating Organisations

  


Public Sector 
  

52 
  



Health Sector 
  

13 
  



NDPBs 
  

9 
  



Academic/Educational Institutes 
  

7 
  



Industry and Commerce (profit and non-profit making) 
  

2 
  



Voluntary/Charitable Organisations 
  

1 
  



Total 
  

84

Scottish Natural Heritage

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-19681 by Angus MacKay on 19 November 2001, how relocating the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) from Edinburgh to Inverness meets the objectives of its policy of dispersing civil service jobs.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the relocation of the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage from Edinburgh to Inverness will promote efficiency and effectiveness.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has consulted Scottish Natural Heritage and the relevant trade unions about the relocation of the organisation from Edinburgh to Inverness.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of the relocation of the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage from Edinburgh to Inverness.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be any compulsory redundancies arising from the relocation of the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage from Edinburgh to Inverness.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made of the impact of the proposed relocation of the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage on the organisation's ability to retain existing staff.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of a new building for the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage in Inverness.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate has been made of the value of capital receipts from the sale of Scottish Natural Heritage's properties in Edinburgh.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what alternative locations were considered when reaching the decision to relocate the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage.

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timescale is for relocating the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage from Edinburgh to Inverness.

Ross Finnie: The Executive is committed to ensuring that all of Scotland benefits from the relocation of public sector jobs. In his November 2001 answer, Angus MacKay said that SNH was one of several bodies then about to undertake a relocation review under the Executive's dispersal policy. Ministers' decision to relocate SNH's Edinburgh headquarters to Inverness clearly demonstrates that the Executive means to deliver on the dispersal of public sector jobs around Scotland.

  The move to Inverness will bring benefits in terms of the development of the relocation policy which outweigh purely financial considerations. SNH currently works between two buildings in Edinburgh. A move to a single energy-efficient headquarters building away from the extremely competitive Edinburgh labour market will realise significant long-term efficiency gains. Over a 30-year period the move to Inverness will cost in the region of £22 million in net present value terms. On the same cost basis, the other options considered (including the status quo) ranged from over £15 million to £22 million. The other locations set out in the DTZ Pieda relocation report and considered by ministers were the status quo and a new combined site in Edinburgh, Perth, Stirling and West Lothian. I met separately with SNH management and its Trade Unions to hear their views before ministers reached the Inverness decision.

  We acknowledge that the relocation will cause SNH some short- to medium-term problems, including the possibility that some staff may leave rather than undertake the move. But as mentioned above, a new sustainable headquarters building in Inverness will realise significant long-term efficiency gains. A package of measures is being designed to ensure that the relocation goes ahead as smoothly as possible. It will provide assistance for SNH staff and minimise disruption to SNH's core work over the transitional period. All efforts will be made to minimise the scope of redundancies and ensure that any necessary redundancies are negotiated on a voluntary basis. SNH is firming up the estimated cost of a new building in Inverness as part of an overall project plan. The cost of this will be partly offset by the sale proceeds of the Hope Terrace headquarters, currently estimated at approximately £1.75 million, and of SNH's current buildings in Inverness which may realise some £2 million.

  The timing of the move will partly be determined by the lease break occurring at the Anderson Place headquarters, which gave rise to the relocation review. The lease will expire on 31 March 2005 and it is expected that the vast majority of staff currently based there will have relocated to Inverness by that date. The disposal of the Hope Terrace headquarters will depend on the timing of securing appropriate accommodation in Inverness. I am asking SNH to work up a project plan to address these and other aspects of the relocation and submit this to ministers in due course.

Scottish Natural Heritage

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to the third supplementary to question S2O-102 by the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development on 5 June 2003 about the relocation of the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) from Edinburgh to Inverness, how many, and which, jobs will (a) remain in Edinburgh and (b) move to Inverness and when the relocation is likely to take place.

Ross Finnie: The timing of the move will partly be determined by the lease break occurring at the Anderson Place headquarters, which gave rise to the relocation review. The lease will expire on 31 March 2005 and it is expected that the vast majority of staff currently based there will have relocated to Inverness by that date. The disposal of the Hope Terrace headquarters will depend on the timing of securing appropriate accommodation in Inverness. I am asking SNH to work up a project plan to address these and other aspects of the relocation and submit this to ministers in due course. That plan may include proposals to retain some staff in Edinburgh. As Allan Wilson made clear in his response to the oral question on 5 June, we expect the proposals to deliver the vast majority of relocated jobs to Inverness.

Sport

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to encourage local authorities to expand sports facilities for young people.

Mr Frank McAveety: Increased access to high quality sports and other recreational facilities is essential to ensure that the health, educational and other benefits of an active lifestyle are achieved.

  Local authorities are the major providers of sports facilities and opportunities in Scotland and the Executive, through sportscotland, will continue to work with local authorities to ensure that they continue to play a key role in delivering sport for young people.

  One of the key targets in Sport 21 2003-07 is to ensure that over 500 sports halls will be available to the public so that 70% of Scots have access to a hall within 20 minutes walk. Another key target is to ensure that every local authority area's community planning process contributes to the delivery of sport.

  In addition to the current investment of £52 million by the New Opportunities Fund in new and improved sports facilities for young people, the Executive is committed to investment of nearly £2 billion to improve the school estate. This will include high quality sports facilities to meet the needs of the schools and their local communities.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of the area tourist board review has been in respect of consultancy fees and other items, broken down by budget heading

Mr Frank McAveety: Apart from a small sum for production of the initial consultation letter, no external costs or consultancy fees were incurred during the course of the area tourist board review.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to make it easier for tourist information centres operated by area tourist boards to take cash payments when booking online on behalf of visitors through visitscotland.com.

Mr Frank McAveety: This is an operational matter for the area tourist boards.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what targets have been set for visitscotland.com and by whom, with particular regard to (a) hits, (b) contacts, (c) turnover and (d) bookings; what the penalties will be if any of the targets are not met, and what incentives there are for achieving or surpassing the targets.

Mr Frank McAveety: Visitscotland.com's annual business plan requires the approval of VisitScotland. It sets out visitscotland.com's business strategy and targets, and the actions needed to achieve them. Visitscotland.com is a commercial company and its business plan targets for bookings and turnover are commercially sensitive.

  At the outset of its operations, visitscotland.com entered into a service-level agreement with VisitScotland and the 13 participating area tourist boards, which sets out performance standards for the operation of the website and the contact centre at Livingston. The agreement provides incentives to meet or exceed these standards, which can only be done by meeting and exceeding customer expectations and thereby increasing the volumes of business generated by visitscotland.com. Any failure to meet consistently the standards set out in the agreement is addressed through a full range of provisions covering inter alia response times, call abandonment rate and customer satisfaction, which trigger either service credits or service defaults.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to allow area tourist boards direct access to visitscotland.com's software to enable them to amend any errors in details posted on the website and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Mr Frank McAveety: Although this is an operational matter for VisitScotland, I understand that area tourist boards already have the facility to amend and update tourism provider details. A more powerful amendment facility is being developed and will be available to area tourist boards later this year.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the main purpose is of visitscotland.com.

Mr Frank McAveety: Visitscotland.com is a world-class visitor contact centre covering in breadth and detail the whole scope of Scottish tourism. It plays a vitally important role in promoting Scottish tourism, and this role will become even more important in future.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the role and remit of Events Scotland is; what its budget is; from which budget the money has been allocated, and what its relationship is with (a) area tourist boards, (b) the British Tourist Authority, (c) other tourism organisations and (d) local authorities.

Mr Frank McAveety: Our Major Events Strategy, which we published In November 2002, sets out the Executive's vision of Scotland becoming one of the world's foremost events destinations by 2015. The strategy was developed in close partnership with   key players in the public sector already involved in major events, including  sportscotland, VisitScotland, the Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, COSLA and the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

  The strategy is now being taken forward by EventScotland, which is a joint venture between the Executive and VisitScotland; it has been allocated £10 million funding from the Scottish Executive via VisitScotland in the next three years (£2 million this year, £3 million in 2004-05 and £5 million in 2005-06). EventScotland is working with a wide range of partners, including the area tourist boards, VisitBritain, other tourism organisations and local authorities to develop a portfolio of major events that will help attract visitors to Scotland, and to enhance Scotland's international profile.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the relationship is between visitscotland.com and area tourist boards and what rights the boards have in respect of the functions of visitscotland.com.

Mr Frank McAveety: Thirteen of the 14 area tourist boards (ATBs) are shareholders in visitscotland.com, with a 12.25% stake between them (Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley Tourist Board is not a participant). Together with VisitScotland's share of 12.75%, the public sector in Scotland has a 25% stake in visitscotland.com. As a shareholder, the ATBs collectively are represented on the board of visitscotland.com. Through board membership, the ATBs have the opportunity to contribute to and influence the visitscotland.com business plan and all aspects of its operations.

Waste Management

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance or instructions it has issued to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to address the levels of pollution being generated by the landfill site operated by Shanks McEwan at Greengairs near Airdrie.

Ross Finnie: None. This is an operational matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, carried out as a matter of course in discharging its duty to regulate landfill. The operator is shortly expected to apply for a new permit to comply with the Landfill (Scotland) Regulations 2003. Consideration of this application will enable the agency to address the operation of this site in great detail.

Young People

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-32193 by Mr Jim Wallace on 12 December 2002, whether it will meet representatives of Grampian Police, Northern Constabulary and the army to discuss Operation Youth Advantage; whether it will replicate this scheme throughout Scotland, and what assessment it has made of the success of the scheme with regard to turning young people away from a life of crime and offending and towards being good citizens.

Cathy Jamieson: Operation Youth Advantage is a project that for the past two years has been run by the British Army Careers Team. Both Northern Constabulary and Grampian Police have been involved in the scheme which gives young people the opportunity to participate in courses that are intended to give them a more responsible attitude and discourage them from becoming involved in criminal and anti-social behaviour. We are committed to addressing youth crime and welcome police participation in projects such as this. I understand that the army are looking at extending the scheme to other areas. In that case, it will be for individual forces to decide on the extent of their involvement.